Laura suggests that manufacturers must move beyond payer-centric models toward integrated, direct-to-consumer and employer channel strategies that connect pricing, demand, and fulfillment. She argues that this approach will help manufacturers convert patient intent into therapy initiation while expanding access at scale.
To learn more about GoodRx’s pharma solutions, visit GoodRx Pharma Direct.
Read on for Laura’s insights.
Beyond Formulary Access: Building a Scalable Pharmaceutical Manufacturer Commercial Platform for Direct-to-Consumer and Employer Channels
By Laura Jensen, Chief Commercial Officer and President, Pharma Direct, GoodRx
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Today’s access environment is more fragmented, more consumer-driven, and advancing at a pace that doesn’t always align with traditional payer channels. Patients are shouldering more out-of-pocket costs, coverage is increasingly restrictive, and high-demand therapies are exposing the limits of the existing system. In other words: the gap between having coverage and affording care is widening.
At the same time, patient behavior has fundamentally changed. People are actively shopping for medications, evaluating prices, and expecting the same level of transparency and ease they experience in every other part of their lives. But unlike buying a flight or a phone plan, healthcare pricing is still opaque and irrational.
The current model requires a more direct way to operationalize access.
Introducing GoodRx Pharma Direct
At GoodRx, we’ve built that infrastructure and are bringing embedded pharmaceutical manufacturer integrations together under a single, unified offering: GoodRx Pharma Direct.
As manufacturer funded self-pay and direct-to-consumer approaches become a core part of the model rather than an add-on, manufacturers need more than just a promotional channel. They need an integrated access pathway that connects pricing, patient demand, and pharmacy fulfillment into a seamless experience. Pharma Direct is built for exactly that moment, enabling brands to launch and manage access programs without building standalone portals or stitching together fragmented point solutions.
For patients, being able to see and access affordable options can make all the difference in whether they move forward with care. By surfacing clear pricing directly within GoodRx before someone reaches the pharmacy counter, Pharma Direct helps convert interest into therapy initiation and supports better adherence over time.
More than 125 brand self-pay programs are already live on GoodRx, including for FDA-approved GLP-1s Ozempic® (semaglutide), Wegovy® (semaglutide), Foundayo™ (orforglipron), and Zepbound® (tirzepatide) KwikPen®. The number of brands has grown by 70% in the last six months alone, demonstrating how quickly this model is becoming embedded in launch and lifecycle strategy.
Extending Access into the Employer Channel
Pharma Direct goes beyond delivering DTC self-pay offerings to individual patients, expanding to support another increasingly important channel: employers.
Through GoodRx Employer Direct, manufacturers can take the same transparent self-pay pricing they make available on GoodRx and extend it into the employer market, where self-insured organizations can directly subsidize the manufacturer-sponsored price of the medication for their employees. Employer contributions layer on top of the manufacturer’s self-pay price and are applied seamlessly, so patients see a clear, reduced out-of-pocket cost at the moment of fill, and employers gain a predictable way to support high-impact therapies without changing their core benefit structure.
For manufacturers, this is a direct extension of pricing strategy into a high-value channel: a large, concentrated population of employer-sponsored patients, accessible through a mechanism that's simpler to operationalize and easier for patients to navigate. The pricing infrastructure is the same across both—set once, delivered consistently, whether a patient comes through the consumer or employer pathway.
We're already seeing this model in practice. Our collaboration with Eli Lilly on Zepbound® KwikPen® enables self-insured employers to subsidize Lilly's $449 price across all doses, giving them a transparent starting point and the flexibility to determine how much additional support to extend to their employees. It's a concrete example of how manufacturer pricing infrastructure, when connected to the right access layer, can reach a defined population at scale.
From Strategy to Consumer Action
The conversation around DTC healthcare has evolved from lowering costs to meeting patients where they are and giving them the ability to act in real time. If affordability options aren’t clear at the moment a patient is making a decision, momentum is lost and even the most motivated patients won’t follow through.
GoodRx is where those decisions happen.
With more than 280 million website visits, nearly 25 million consumers, and more than one million healthcare professionals using the platform each year, GoodRx is where patients evaluate their options and choose how to move forward.
For manufacturers, that shifts the model entirely. GoodRx is more than just a supporting channel—it’s the trusted DTC platform bringing go-to-market strategies to life. From launching self-pay offerings to shaping patient demand and extending into employer-sponsored models, Pharma Direct enables manufacturers to engage patients directly, guide their choices, and drive measurable outcomes.
This is what modern DTC healthcare looks like: not just reaching patients, but converting intent into action at scale.
A New Standard for Commercialization
Direct-to-consumer access is no longer a parallel strategy. It's a core component of commercialization.
For manufacturers, the question is no longer whether to invest in direct access, but whether the infrastructure behind it can deliver. Pharma Direct is built to do exactly that.
Learn more about how GoodRx can help manufacturers improve access.
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